Category Archives: Custom Electric Bicycles

This bicycle had done 30km trips a day for about 4 years on a 17Ah rack battery; it was time for an upgrade as the range had slightly dropped and it was no longer possible to commute the 30km on a single charge anymore. The customer opted for the newest of SOLAR BIKE’s long range battery options. This one has a huge 36V 21Ah capacity and it’s added bonus is that it’s small enough to fit within the frame of the bicycle for better handling. A battery is a consumable item but if you’re getting thousands of km out of one for a few years then it’s well worth investing in a top quality one right from the beginning that will well and truly give you your desired range. The new Tiger Shark battery styles are available in 36V 14Ah and 36V 21Ah. It’s far beyond what many people need but if you’re running a larger high power direct drive motor then it may well be worth the investment from the beginning. These new moulds have the latest 3500mAh cells from PANASONIC that came out last year. They are the best on the market this year for sure for commercially available ebikes.

This is a 3 speed beach cruiser that we get in from time to time and electrify. It’s called the Skull & Cross bones. For this one, we put a 1000W Solar Bike kit on with a really long range 48V 17Ah rack battery. This is the type of bike that suits elderly gentlemen with no teeth, tattoos and no license. It’s very comfortable, easy to pedal and has a nice bit of electric kit on it to help when things get tough. It’s one of the best beach cruisers we’ve done in a while.

LEKKER have just released a new model, it’s an upgrade of their previous Men’s Sportief model. This one has a nicer 7 speed SHIMANO Nexus internal hub and aluminum frame. It also has a stylish front rack for carrying those extra loads or backpacks. This is the first model to become electric and it came together nicely. The customer desired a rear carrier rack but it would work equally as well with any of the in-frame mounted batteries. It’s a pleasure to ride, it’s comfortable and stylish and a great commuting machine.

It’s always a bit of a tough one to convert a road bike. The problem lies with drop-bars. They have a larger diameter than all other sets of bars and we’ve found it impossible to get throttles to match. We’ve done a few dodgy solutions to get by in previous times but here is far more elegant solution. Use a mid-drive conversion kit with torque sensing. This allows you to get away with not needing a throttle. The pressure on the pedals activates the motor straight away – as opposed to a regular cadence sensing motor that requires a few revolutions of the pedals. Our little mid-drive kits are really superb now. They are small, quiet, pressure sensitive and full of power. You can modify quite a few settings from the LCD as well. This TCR came together nicely, it takes a little longer as you have to replace the bottom bracket but the result is worth the effort. Our customer will surely be pleasantly surprised with his new ride – or his old ride made new.

The Bike

One of our new eye catchers is the SolarBike converted Norco Indie a flash colored lightweight urban city bike from North America. Before conversion the Indie is a bike with 8-speed gears, disc brakes and a stiff frame. A joy for the eye and great to ride up and down the streets of Perth and around.

We converted the Norco Indie to an electric pedal assisted bike featuring 750 Watt Bafang mid-drive motor which together with a 48V 11.6Ah battery will take you quickly to your destination. The mid-drive motor assists you pedaling along the streets while you enjoy your morning-midday or afternoon rides. All in all, a great bike that will draw some looks with you riding it.

This is the MERIDA Big 9 100 that has been converted with a SOLAR BIKE high power 1500 Watt kit. The local butcher needed something to deliver his products around the hills and this bike fit the picture. The motor is mounted in the rear dropouts and supported using two torque bars. The battery was neatly put in a rear rack. It has a 48V 17Ah capacity for a great extended range. This is a super bike, excellent hydraulic disc brakes and top forks make it quick to stop and soft over the bumps. It’s a neat configuration.

The new VALLKREE is in stock. The Scrambler is their 500W model that comes with a bit more punch than usual. At first we were a bit dubious about ordering the smokey blue colour from online pictures but we’re extremely impressed to see it in the flesh. This latest up-spec model comes with a 5 speed pedal assist function as well as open throttle. It’s a beautiful and classic electric bike if you’re a classy type of ebike enthusiast!

WA is coming alive tomorrow night with the West Coast Eagles taking on the Western Bulldogs in the 1st AFL final for the season starting at 6.10pm. We’re giving away either a men’s or ladies’ electric YUN bike or else any of the SOLAR BIKE conversion kits if you can correctly guess the exact score at the final siren!

An additional bonus is 10 free coffees from the great Barber & coffee shop up the road – Cut Throat Coffee.

This is a Bakfiets box bike that came into the shop for electric conversion this week. We put the Bafang mid-drive kit on it and it works a treat. The Solar Bike rear rack battery replaced the existing rack. It’s well equipped now to take two kids strapped in up any hill. Bafang make great mid-drive motors, you take the existing crank out and replace it with the mid-drive motor system. They’re a little bit more expensive than hub motors but have their own advantages. The bike came from a group called “Dutch Cargo Bike“, they have an importer based in Claremont and stock a bunch of fancy cargo bikes. Some of the better known cargo bikes they import are the Douze, Nihola, Bakfiets, Biomega and Bullitt models. Well worth having a look through their site if you’re interested in this type of cycling. Bring it over here if you want to make it electric!

Over the last few months we’ve been working to find the best e-bike setup for a folding bicycle and we may have found it! Folding bikes are an excellent choice for those who need to use public transport as a leg of their commute or who have limited space in which to store a bike either in the home or at work.

The Bike

The bike in question is an XDS City Pro. It’s a well equipped and well priced folding bike that’s absolutely ideal for shorter commute distances. When in action, its generously sized wheelbase is comfortable enough for a larger framed rider yet it is still able to fold down to a manageable size for stowage on peak hour public transit services. Furthermore, the smaller 20″ wheels make this bike extremely agile around town which is likely where this bike will see most of its action.

The City Pro’s componentry is of excellent spec for this price point with a SRAM X4 8 Speed rear dearilleur and a pair of Tektro V Brakes for reliable stopping. Pair that with a lightweight alloy frame and XDS’s comfortable finishing kit and you’ve got a seriously capable bike at an excellent price point of $550.

The Electric Conversion

To make this already great bike an even more versatile e-bike, we’ve fitted it with a Solarbike 20″ rear-drive swift kit. It features a street-legal 250 Watt rear hub motor and a Panasonic 36v 9Ah ‘Frog’ Battery specifically designed for use on folding bikes. The rear-drive configuration affords the high torque motor extra traction which is sure to make the steering performance more predictable. Furthermore, the seatpost mounted battery retains the functionality of the City Pro’s folding mechanism.

Performance

The e-bike conversion kit from Solarbike provides the XDS City Pro with great all round performance. The 250 Watt motor should give a top speed of between 25 and 30 km/h with the smaller 20″ wheels allowing for great acceleration and hill-climbing ability. Meanwhile, the 9Ah battery should give ranges of up to 35 km/h with light to moderate pedaling making this e-bike ideal for inner city commuting. Perhaps most importantly, with its snappy handling and great acceleration, the electric City Pro is great fun to ride!

Pricing and Availability

Currently we’ve got one electric XDS City Pro setup and ready for a test ride in our store down in Fremantle. Alternatively, the bikes can be ordered in and setup within 7 working days.

The Electric City Pro is competitively priced at $1750.
Finally, if you’ve got an existing folding bike that you wish to have converted, Solarbike conversions start at $1150 Installed.